February 2009 Archives

-- Despite its 87-78 loss at Michigan, Purdue wasn't giving up on the possibility of getting at least a piece of the Big Ten title.

"You always have to believe," Chris Kramer said. "Something can happen. It's college basketball. We have to take care of our own business; if we get help, we get help."

The Boilermakers are two games behind Michigan State with three games remaining in the regular season; they're also tied in the loss column with Illinois for second place.

"I'm proud of our guys to be in this position, being 0-2 in the league," Matt Painter said.

"You just have to hang in there and keep fighting."

Perhaps E'Twaun Moore was the most realistic.

"It stings, because we were going for a Big Ten title," he said.

-- On the bright side for Purdue, Rob Hummel looked pretty darn healthy, playing extremely well. His back wasn't bothering him, and his latest knocks from Saturday's game against Indiana -- running head-first into Tom Pritchard's pick and banging his left knee -- didn't appear to be problematic.

He said he felt as good as he has in a long time.

Indeed, his 24 points were one short of his career high, and his 39 minutes matched his season high, in the overtime game against Illinois at Mackey Arena.

"I didn't envision that (playing 39 minutes)," Hummel said. "It was a test for me, and I passed."

Painter said the Boilermakers practiced for 1:15 on Wednesday, and Hummel participated the whole time, for the first time since late December.

"He had a little pop to him," Painter said.

"I obviously don't want to play him 39 minutes," he added, reiterating his desire to limit Hummel's minutes to about 25, but was "stuck" with JaJuan Johnson in foul trouble and Nemanja Calasan out with an illness.

"Rob was big-time, knocking down shots," Kramer said. "He carried us on offense. Everyone has to be more efficient."

With a quick turnaround, we'll see how Hummel in particular, and the Boilermakers in general, respond against Ohio State on Saturday.

-- There's no question Johnson would have made a difference, but he wouldn't have made up for all of Purdue's defensive deficiencies against the Wolverines.

Yes, Johnson barely played, never got into any sort of flow on either end, and was tentative even when he was in the game.

There are two overarching -- and interrelated -- themes to be taken from Purdue's 72-54 victory over Michigan State on Tuesday night: the Boilermakers still are in contention for a Big Ten title, and Rob Hummel looked as healthy and comfortable as he has in several weeks.

In terms of Hummel, even in pregame warmups, he looked like a different player, freer and looser than he has been. During the game, he looked like he was moving well, and even though he went only 3-of-9 from the field, his shot looked true. And after the game, he looked and sounded a lot more upbeat than he has been; he spoke optimistically about the progress he has made with his back in recent days.

It's amazing (not really ...) how much better Purdue played with Hummel seeing significant time. Quite simply, both offensively and defensively, he is a difference-maker. His presence seems to elevate the respective games of those around him.

With him (as long as he is at least close to 100 percent, of course), the Boilermakers are the team that got so much love, if you will, in the preseason.

"You envision what your team can develop into, what they can grow into, and you hope it's something special," Matt Painter said.

Painter talked about how Penn State might have been an NCAA Tournament team last season with Geary Claxton, who suffered a season-ending knee injury around the midway point. And he talked about how Raymar Morgan still isn't 100 percent for this season's Spartans, including on Tuesday night.

"You'd like to have all your weapons, so to speak, but it doesn't work that way," Painter said.

"It's part of the game."

-- In terms of Morgan, he played only 14 minutes. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said the standout junior forward asked twice to come out of the game.

Morgan had missed three straight games since Feb. 1 and played a combined 11 minutes in the previous two because of walking pneumonia and a mild case of mononucleosis.

-- Interestingly, Izzo pointed to the first half, not necessarily the early stages of the second half, as the game's turning point. He said the Spartans missed about five layups in the first half, changing the complexion of the game.

Izzo said he was "elated" Michigan State trailed by only three points, 26-23, at halftime, after the Spartans played so poorly.

-- JaJuan Johnson (yes, the now seemingly obligatory JJ reference) was key in Purdue outscoring Michigan State 46-31 in the second half, putting up 13 of his game-high 17 points (though on the heels of a zero-rebound game against Iowa, he had only four against Michigan State, bailed out by the stellar work of the Boilermakers' guards on the boards).

"We always talk about getting the ball inside," Painter said. "We have to throw the ball to JaJuan Johnson. He's improving right before our eyes."

-- In addition to the Big Ten implications of Purdue's victory, the Boilermakers also helped their NCAA Tournament stock on Tuesday.

"Any time you beat a quality opponent like Michigan State, it helps your resume," Painter said.

There apparently has been some consternation among Purdue fans that if things broke a certain way, the Boilermakers -- gulp -- might be headed to the NIT.

Really, even without Rob Hummel, that thought never crossed my mind. Even without him, I still think Purdue is an NCAA Tournament team; of course, the Boilermakers are significantly better with him.

But make no mistake, Wednesday night's 61-47 win over Penn State was crucial for Purdue.

Realistically, the Boilermakers (or anyone else, for that matter) aren't going to catch Michigan State for the Big Ten title. But their victory, on their home floor, over the Nittany Lions was important.

Purdue won for the first time in conference play without Hummel, after having lost the first three games, including back-to-back road losses to Ohio State and Illinois.

Matt Painter said the team has the players to win without Hummel; it's just a matter of adjusting, after having planned to play a certain way with a certain player taking on a prominent role.

"Any game we can get without him is big," Bobby Riddell said.

There was chatter about the need for Purdue's senior reserves, Nemanja Calasan and Marcus Green, to step up in the absence of Hummel, to play with a greater sense of urgency. We apparently didn't consider another senior, Riddell -- well, at least I didn't.

Still, no one could have envisioned the type of career performance he put together on Wednesday night. Wow.

Calasan was a factor with 12 points. Green played only seven minutes, none in the second half, as Painter said he didn't want to tinker with what was working.

JaJuan Johnson is turning into a consistent player, one the Boilermakers can rely upon for a big game every time out. And Lewis Jackson continues to improve as a freshman.

E'Twaun Moore showed signs of coming out of this slump, scoring 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting (though he did go 0-of-4 from 3-point range) in 26 foul-plagued minutes.

In terms of Hummel, who participated in pregame warmups and actually looked pretty good, Painter said, "He's making improvements."

Hummel went through the shootaround (though he still hasn't practiced since late December, of course), and Painter said that Thursday "will be a big day for us."

"Everybody is itching for him to get back," Painter said. "But we want him to get back, and stay back."

The Boilermakers play at Iowa on Saturday, and it will have been two weeks since Hummel last played, on Jan. 31 against Michigan.

"I could see him playing against Iowa, I could see him playing against Michigan State (on Tuesday), I could see him not playing in either one," Painter said.

Rob Hummel actually looks about as comfortable as he has recently during pregame warmups, but he is not included in the starting lineup just posted. Purdue will be using its "usual" Hummel-less group of JaJuan Johnson, E'Twaun Moore, Chris Kramer, Keaton Grant and Lewis Jackson (Nemanja Calasan will not start, apparently, as had been listed in the Boilermakers' game notes, for what would have given them a bigger lineup against Penn State's relatively big front line.).

With or (probably) without Hummel, Purdue really needs this game. It's at home, and the Boilermakers still should have enough to hold off an improved Nittany Lions team.

Getting ready to tip off, and word is that Hummel will not play, missing his third straight game. Not a surprise, really.

-- Not only did Purdue establish season lows in points, field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage in its 66-48 loss to Illinois.

But the 48 points were the fewest the Boilermakers scored since, coincidentally, a 66-48 loss to Oklahoma on Dec. 8, 2004, at Mackey Arena. The loss also was their worst since a 78-59 setback at Iowa on Feb. 21, 2007.

-- I wouldn't be surprised if Rob Hummel returned at some point this season, maybe even on Wednesday against Penn State.

But I also wouldn't be surprised -- at all -- if we've seen the last of him on the court as a sophomore.

The fact Hummel didn't play against the Illini is fairly telling. If not then, then when? That game was really a turning point whether the Boilermakers were going to have a legitimate chance at the Big Ten title or not (more on that momentarily).

It's probably worth a shot to see if resting him against teams the Boilermakers think they can beat (not that they're taking anyone lightly, but you have to be realistic, too) will help. But it also might not make that much of a difference in the healing process, as from all accounts it will take at least two months -- and maybe more like three -- of complete inactivity for the stress fracture in his lower back to mend. (As an aside, earlier this week, I saw some news about Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut, and did a little additional research. It was reported that he will be out at least eight weeks, and possibly the rest of the season, with a stress fracture in his lower back; the injury initially was described as back spasms. Since early January, Bogut missed four games in the span of about a week, returned for three games, then missed eight games in the span of about two weeks, returned for two games and then was deemed out. Now, I don't know how comparable Hummel's injury is to Bogut's injury, but the Bogut situation did at least catch my eye ...)

This season began with such promise and, with all its pieces healthy (well, at least relatively), Purdue at one point was starting to look like the team everyone thought it could be. Of course, that lineup included Hummel.

But you couldn't blame the parties involved, either, if the decision were made to shut him down.

-- Purdue's loss to Illinois was a major blow to the Boilermakers' conference championship hopes, really a pivotal game.

Michigan State is in the driver's seat atop the tightly packed standings, with two losses. The Illini, Ohio State and Purdue all have four losses.

Matt Painter said a team will need to go on a streak along the lines of 7-1 or 8-0 to catch the Spartans.

"I hope it gets real wild," he said. "And while it's getting wild, I hope we can get healthy."

-- I've said it once, I've probably said it again and I'll say it (at least) one more time: Witnessing JaJuan Johnson's transformation into a premier Big Ten player has been remarkable.

Johnson showed an array of skills against Illinois. He posted up. He had range on his jumper. He put the ball on the floor.

"I'm trying to be aggressive," Johnson said. "My teammates are doing a good job getting me the ball."

Indeed, Purdue did well to get him the ball in the first half against the Illini, as he went 5-of-11 for 12 points. In the second half, though, with the Illini concentrating their defense more on him and the Boilermakers somewhat getting away from him, he went 2-of-4 for five points.

"I think we have to do a better job giving him the ball," freshman point guard Lewis Jackson conceded.

Especially without Hummel, it is becoming increasingly apparent Johnson is the Boilermakers' top offensive option. The more touches he gets, the better for them.

-- If Johnson is option 1A right now, then E'Twaun Moore is 1B.

And right now, Moore isn't at the top of his game.

He has to walk a fine line, find that balance between pushing the action and allowing the game to come to him.

Moore is too talented a player, too proven a scorer, to not come around. But (again) with Hummel out, he needs to be "on" pretty much every game for Purdue to be productive on offense.

-- Illinois guard Chester Frazier paid Purdue a compliment.

"They play so hard," he said. "They play the way we should play every night. They bring the best out of us."

So it's about 20 minutes until tipoff of No. 12 Purdue's game against No. 23 Illinois at Assembly Hall.

Rob Hummel has not been participating in pregame warmups. At the moment, he's sitting on the bench. And, now, it has been confirmed he will not be playing today.

Hummel has downplayed the notion of not playing the rest of the season, but at least for today, he will be unavailable for the Boilermakers for the second straight game after he missed their loss at Ohio State.

-- Look, I'm not a doctor (obviously), though I like to play one in the newspaper and online (and sometimes in the office and occasionally on the telephone). But I was always under the impression that back spasms were not necessarily a diagnosis, per se, but more a symptom of an underlying issue.

So it's not overly surprising that something more has been wrong with Rob Hummel's back.

At least it's not a disc problem or something along those lines, something that more likely could require surgery than a hairline fracture.

The bottom line is, fracture or not (though it is disappointing that all parties involved withheld the information for weeks and weeks, even when they were asked directly about what various diagnostic tests showed), the situation with Hummel remains essentially the same -- things are going to be handled on a day-by-day, game-by-game basis.

-- Without Hummel, E'Twaun Moore had a relatively quiet night offensively with seven points on 2-of-7 shooting, though he did have five rebounds and four assists in Purdue's 80-72 overtime loss at Ohio State.

And as Matt Painter noted, if you're playing Purdue and Hummel is out, on what other Boilermakers player are you going to focus your defense? Indeed, the Buckeyes tilted their zone in the direction of Moore, limiting his opportunities to shoot the ball.

-- JaJuan Johnson continues his remarkable development, including scoring a career-high 30 points against the Buckeyes, shooting 10-of-16 from the field and 10-of-11 from the foul line. The Boilermakers seemed to try to get the ball to the 6-foot-10 sophomore as often as possible, and justifiably so.

-- Hummel likely would have made a difference for the Boilermakers in at least one area, as they were outrebounded 36-19.

He averages a team-high 7.5 boards, third in the conference.

"We prepared for him, but we know his back hurts," Ohio State's Evan Turner said of Hummel. "He's a good player. But it doesn't take anything away from this."

The Buckeyes are an excellent shooting team, but even they seemed at a loss to fully explain their success on Tuesday.

"Honestly, I wish I knew," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "For the most part, I thought we did a decent job of gutting it out, toughing it out on shot selection and moving the basketball."

B.J. Mullens, who shot 8-of-9, agreed. "That's when we play our best offensive game -- when we move the ball around," he said.

"It goes back to practice," Turner said. "We all practice hard."

-- Painter said he wasn't bothered when, in the waning seconds of overtime and with Ohio State all but having secured the victory, Jon Diebler bounced the ball off the backboard to set up B.J. Mullens for an uncontested dunk with 21 seconds to give the Buckeyes a 78-68 lead.

"No, not at all," Painter said, adding you get to take some liberties when you've put yourself in position to win a game. "I'm going to try to bring up the fact they outrebounded us by 17. That's where the game was lost.

"If you need extra motivation to win, you're probably in the wrong line of business."

-- On a night when Value City Arena was rocking, when there was an electric atmosphere, Ohio State's student section was chanting "Overrated, overrated" toward Purdue with 14.7 seconds left in overtime.

-- After seeing its six-game win streak end, and its losing streak in Columbus reach nine, including 0-6 at Value City Arena, Purdue next plays at Illinois on Sunday, on CBS. It's another tough road game -- and another key game overall in an up-for-grabs conference race -- for the Boilermakers, who let their game against the Illini at Mackey Arena slip away, losing in overtime.

He was a youngster in the era of the "Steel Curtain" and Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, John Stallworth and Lynn Swann.

"I was 5, 6 years old at that time. When you're a kid, everyone likes a winner," Painter said.

"My dad was a Browns fan, so it was a good rivalry."

Painter said he watched the game "off and on," including the stirring ending, around some of his responsibilities.

"It was a great win for the Steelers," he said. "It was good to see."

-- It doesn't appear as if Michigan's Manny Harris will be suspended for his elbow against Purdue's Chris Kramer, which would be fine with the parties involved.

"My opinion hasn't changed," Painter said on Monday. "I think he got high when he triple-threat and cleared his space, and obviously hit Chris. That's Chris' space. He was established, he was there, that is his space. My opinion hasn't changed. But there wasn't any maliciousness to it at all. But that is that person's space, you're entitled to it when you establish that defensive position."

Michigan coach John Beilein drew a sharp distinction between that play and Zack Novak's elbow against Ohio State's P.J. Hill.

"With his (Harris') situation, we see this as a clear difference from our other situation," said Beilein, who suspended Novak for one game, a decision the Big Ten supported. "He's very disappointed because there was nothing intentional involved in his situation. Because it was deemed a flagrant foul, there was no choice. He was disappointed because we were already playing one man down, and he knows two men down is hard as well. He'll bounce back. He's resilient.

"I'll tell you what we did last week -- we reviewed it over and over again, and we ended up saying what action we were going to take to the Big Ten, and they then approved of our action in the previous situation. We are in the process of doing the same today (Monday), and I expect them to accept that recommendation that we give in this situation. If not, I would appeal it."

-- At just about the halfway point of the conference season, the title is still very much up for grabs.

Michigan State and Purdue have two losses. Minnesota, Illinois and Penn State all have three losses. And Ohio State has four.

"A lot of teams are battling for the top half of the league, and for the league championship," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "It's very competitive from the top to the bottom in the league, one of the best in my 29 years that I've seen as far as balance in the league."

Painter wouldn't be surprised to see a 14-4 or 13-5 team -- or teams -- crowned as champion, with any number of teams capable of going on a run.

"Nothing surprises me in this league," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "To be honest with you, I don't look at the standings until March when it's like it is right now. You can lose yourself in guessing or speculating. With where the league is today, what we're doing as a program is just focus on us and control what we can control.

"It's going to be a tremendous race to the finish. This is about as challenging as it gets."

Michael Osipoff

Staff writer Michael Osipoff covers Purdue football and basketball, the RailCats, boys and girls soccer, wrestling and girls tennis for the Post-Tribune. After winning three state writing awards in Virginia, he won first place for non-deadline sports reporting from the Indiana Associated Press Managing Editors and third place for deadline sports reporting in 2007; second place for best print feature from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2007; and second place for sports feature writing from the Hoosier State Press Association in 2004.